When Do You Become a Homestead?

Today is the day that we now classify our home, house, property as a homestead and dedicate it to the service of our children, ourselves, our neighbors, and, most importantly, to the Two Hearts that sustain the world: the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

What makes a homestead? Well, last spring as we bought our first set of chickens, I would not have considered that a "homestead situation." In fact, that home was one that we not only did not want to set up to sustain us for a long time, it was one we were hoping we would leave as soon as possible. At 1550 square feet for 7, soon to be 8 people, it was too small for us and brought up more stress than joy. There was more to fix than to appreciate. The yard was more restrictive than freeing. Yet, at the time, we felt an urge to begin learning and raising animals that would ultimately lead to feeding and nourishing our family.

With a bit of patience and after touring and loving two properties out of state that we wanted to own and build on but not live on, we found the perfect hybrid: a home that had 1 acre of land and 3 surrounding acres for sale. To be clear, we do not own those other three acres yet, (a disappointing encounter with the landowner who will not budge on her price per acre yet,) so this homestead is being cultivated and grown on one rectangular acre. This new home was all we dreamed of with an open concept layout, close bedrooms, and a pool! Better yet, the lawn was plush enough for the kids to play and had a sprinkler system that we hoped would help us finally achieve a good garden! Finally, the cherry on top is the wraparound deck that allows us to feel that we can watch all areas of the property easily and "walk around the yard" daily without setting foot on the grass.

That was last fall. We got to enjoy the pool, deck, and lawn, but the gardening and spreading out our animals was set to the side. Our three original hens, which we call "insurhens" (aka hens that are fully enclosed at all times to prevent predator loss), took up a small amount of space behind the carport.

As the days became longer and we were put into a quarantine situation due to coronavirus, we began working on our long-awaited summer plan! We moved the insurhens to a prominent spot on the northeastern quadrant of the lawn. We finished moving the 9 new pullets into their henhouse and placed them next to the older gals and we began fencing in those pullets, as they will have a bit more freedom to achieve our purpose of pest control on the property. Finally, on one long, long day, Matt dug up our first healthy-sized garden (we were very limited in the old yard in the city) and it all began coming together into a beautiful site!

In line with our goals for the property, getting chickens that provide eggs for ourselves and to sell to neighbors led to the idea of raising meat, the easiest and most compact option being meat rabbits, which we purchased last weekend and gave to the children on Easter. We plan to breed the first of the three females in July and then sell half of the offspring and process/harvest the other half for our freezer.

This brings me to the next piece of the puzzle that we are putting in at the end of next month: we will be securing dairy by getting a goat doe in milk and a companion. We have already selected her; she is named Victoria and is a registered LaMancha dairy goat. There are many reasons why this will be a good fit for us, (the seller is someone we know and trust; this breed has higher milkfat, the size and daily output of milk, etc.) and we are very excited to secure her purchase and then spend the next 6 weeks preparing a shelter and fence for our new tenant to arrive!

Building fences and pastures on this piece of land is something that both intimidates and excites us. Matt began his first fence around the new pullets and we have mapped out where we will put our first goat pasture and where we will probably extend another pasture in the fall to rotate to. A shelter for the goats and rabbits is something that is also a new challenge to us that will stretch our natural abilities and we will keep you updated as we find plans and attempt them.

That's all about the animals -- not even touching the topic of the gardens yet! Whew! As you can see, we have many different balls in the air that all converge into our main purpose and the reason why I now consider ourselves a homestead: with the gift of this home we have been blessed with, we are seeking to turn it into a place of love, laughter, health, joy, knowledge, and work, using the Lord's gifts of nature and animals that will serve those purposes.

I hope you will join us as we record and write about snippets of running a one acre homestead with now *three* types of animals (which is the magic number that I decided qualifies us as a homestead/small farm now!) and our gardens/kitchen/artisan projects. For now, I will leave you with a prayer that I found that is ironically translated by a priest in my hometown of Peoria, IL:

Bless, O Lord, Almighty God, this house and farm. May health and purity, goodness and meekness, and every virtue reign here. May all those who dwell here be filled with faithfulness to Thy law and with thanksgiving to God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. May this blessing remain on this house and this farm and all who dwell here. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Translated by Most Reverend J. H. Schlarman Bishop of Peoria